Barack Obama has an op-ed in today’s New York Times, titled “My Plan for Iraq.”
It is an odd title, considering that Obama uses the space to write about almost everything except about his plan for Iraq.
Rather, Obama reminds us that he opposed the war in Iraq before it began, ignoring that his stated objections at the time were vacuous and not borne out by subsequent events. He claims that nearly every threat we face has grown — though many not associated with the VRWC would disagree. Indeed, Obama notes himself that al Qaeda has weakened in Iraq.
Obama then claims that “the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true,” but the factors he cites now are not those he cited at the time, when he wrongly predicted the surge would fail. He also derides Iraqi progress on political reconciliation, though the Sunnis in Iraq seem to be pretty pleased with that progress to date. It’s a little odd that Obama seems keen to get chatty with the Islamic theocracy of Iran, while insulting our allies in Iraq.
He also seems willfully blind to the distinction between being able to withdraw on a timetable based on progress in Iraq, rather than to declare defeat and decamp, which has been his position until recently.
Obama finally gets around to his plan for Iraq, claiming: “We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months.” The US military seems to disagree, and will likely tell him so when he visits Iraq.
The remainder of Obama’s op-ed addresses his desire to send at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We could use more troops there, though someone might want to ask Obama why he, as a multi-lateralist, is not joining the calls for more equal participation from our supposed allies.
In short, out of the entire op-ed, we learn that Obama’s plan for Iraq remains to pull out faster than the US military thinks it can be done as a matter of logistics, let alone prudence. And that he will “refine” his policy in whatever ad hoc manner suits the moment.
